Dr. Yang Zhou is an Assistant Professor recently appointed in 2019. Before she joined UAB, Dr. Zhou obtained her Ph.D. in Developmental Biology from Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2014 and received her postdoctoral training at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Zhou has extensive experience and expertise in stem cell and cardiovascular biology. Her research findings have been published in journals including Cell Stem Cell, Cell Reports, Nature, Sci Transl Med and Circulation, etc.

Dr. Zhou has been long interested in the molecular mechanisms that define cardiac lineage identity focusing on transcriptional and epigenetic regulation. She chooses direct cardiac reprogramming as a major model to understand how cardiomyocytes are induced, how they mature, and maintain their cell fate identity. Her research group also seeks collaborative efforts to develop genetic and engineering approaches to promote cardiac regeneration as a treatment for heart failure.

Education and Training

2014 - 2019 Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
McAllister Heart Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

2007 - 2014 Ph.D. Developmental Biology
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China

2003 - 2007 B.S. Biology
Fudan University, Shanghai, China

Honors and Awards

Featured Discovery, Heersink School of Medicine, UAB, 2022

Transformational Project Award, American Heart Association (AHA), 2022 - 2025

Melvin L. Marcus Early Career Investigator Award, Cardiovascular Sciences Finalist, American Heart Association (AHA). 2021

IMPACT award, School of Medicine, UAB, 2021 - 2025

Outstanding Early Career Investigator Award Finalist at the Basic Cardiovascular Sciences (BCVS), 2020 Scientific Sessions, American Heart Association (AHA), 2020

Postdoctoral Award for Research Excellence (PARE), UNC-Chapel Hill, 2018

International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Travel Grant, 2012

Poster Award at the 9th Graduate Research Appreciation Day, Institute of Health Sciences. Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2011

Students Excellence Award. Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2011